Ricketts family adds investors to help pay for Wrigley rehab

The Ricketts family have signed on six investors in the club to help with the costs of the $375 million renovation of Wrigley Field. (Jose M. Osorio, Chicago Tribune)

The Ricketts family has brought six investors into the ownership of the Chicago Cubs to help finance a $375 million renovation of Wrigley Field — and the family may not be done selling pieces of the team.

The family remains in control of the franchise it bought for $845 million in 2009. The new investors are limited partners in a Ricketts family holding company that includes the team, Wrigley Field and real estate surrounding the stadium, according to sources familiar with partnership deals, which were completed Friday.

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Together, the partners own less than 10 percent of the holding company and have no voting rights, the sources said.

The team received so much interest during fundraising that the Ricketts family is considering a second round, the sources said. Additional ownership stakes would be sold for about $5 million a piece, a much smaller amount than the investments made by the six limited partners, they said.

The Ricketts family is not publicly naming the six limited partners, nor discussing the amount of money it has raised from them. Dennis Culloton, a spokesman for the family, said it is up to the investors if they want to identify themselves. So far only one of the six has come out.

Andrew Berlin, the chief executive of a Chicago-based packaging company, confirmed his investment on his Twitter account Friday after disclosing his involvement before he was supposed to. On Thursday, the day before deals closed, Berlin mentioned in a speech to a business group in Elkhart, Ind., that he would be a part-owner in the Cubs.

Berlin also is a limited partner in the Chicago White Sox. Major League Baseball allows an individual to be an investor in more than one team as long as the financial interest is less than 5 percent in each team, said MLB spokesman Mike Teevan.

Berlin, who also owns the Cubs' minor-league affiliate in South Bend, Ind., declined to be interviewed.

An investment in the Cubs brings a lot of attention and perks, such as preferential game seating, but also could be a prudent business decision. Forbes magazine said the franchise was worth $1.2 billion last year, an increase of more than 30 percent since the Ricketts family bought the team from Tribune Co., now Tribune Media, which owns 5 percent of the team. A big television payday may be coming in 2019 when the team's broadcast deals expire.

The Ricketts family began looking for investors last year as a way to raise some of the money to fix Wrigley Field. The Rickettses are undertaking the $375 million project without the public funds other Chicago teams have received to build new stadiums. The team already is saddled with debt as a result of the complicated terms Tribune imposed on the sale.

The family also said it plans to spend $200 million on a new hotel next to the stadium as well as a plaza with office and retail space. Earlier this year the Rickettses bought three neighboring apartment buildings with rooftop businesses.